


A Wish or a Dream

by bluemadridista



Category: Football RPF
Genre: AU, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Wishes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-08
Updated: 2013-02-08
Packaged: 2017-11-28 14:18:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/675338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluemadridista/pseuds/bluemadridista
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU: Stevie and Xabi are back together for the first time since Xabi left Liverpool for Stevie’s daughters birthday celebration at a carnival. Xabi visits a fortune teller and makes a wish. Does his wish come true or is this all just a dream?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Wish or a Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing, but the idea. I don't own the men or any other characters.  
> This is one of my favorite fics that I've written, so I would love to hear what you all think of it! I hope you enjoy it xx

Xabi walked onto the fairgrounds in Liverpool with his son Jon on one hand and his daughter Ane on the other. The weather was perfect for a summer night in Liverpool – warm with a clear night sky, stars just starting to make an appearance as the sky darkened. It was unlike the rainy and foggy weather he remembered from his years playing for Liverpool. It had been so long since he’d been back to the city that once (and in some cases, still) loved him so much.

When he’d gotten the call from Stevie, asking him to visit, he had almost declined. He was still – after all the years – trying to convince himself that he wasn’t in love with the Scouser. This would only bring back all those old feelings and complicate things. When Stevie’s little girl Lexie took the phone and begged him to join her at the carnival for what was a late birthday gift to her, he couldn’t resist. The Euros were over. Pre-season had yet to start. He had no valid excuse to hand the six-year-old.

Xabi held tight to the hands of his children as they weaved through crowds of people bustling around carnival games, tents, and rides. Stevie had instructed him to meet them by the big Ferris wheel at seven. The Ferris wheel was at the back of the huge grounds.

When he finally reached the Ferris wheel area, Xabi scanned the crowd for Stevie. He spotted him with his youngest daughter in his arms. The smile on Stevie’s face made Xabi’s eyes burn with tears. He blinked them away quickly and started to guide his children over. When he saw Alex approach Stevie, he stopped abruptly. He was sure Stevie had said Alex would not be joining him and the girls. He knew Xabi was uncomfortable being around her.

“What’s wrong, Papa?” Jon asked.

Xabi jerked his face toward his son, standing on his left side. “Oh, um, nothing. I…”

“Xabier!”

A chill pranced down Xabi’s spine at the sound of Stevie’s unmistakable accent calling out his name. His name had never sounded sexier. He fought to look at anything, but Stevie. He couldn’t bear to look at him when he was still shaken by seeing Alex. “Come on, kids,” he said, guiding them toward the sound of Stevie’s voice. Stevie had handed Lourdes to Alex and was now calling out to Xabi’s kids.

Jon had been raised as a Liverpool fan and Captain Fantastic was his favorite Liverpool player. Sometimes Xabi thought he even admired Stevie more than him as a player. Jon broke away from Xabi as soon as he knew it was a safe distance and ran to Stevie’s open arms.

“Hey, buddy!” Stevie said, scooping Jon into his arms. He had seen Jon not long ago when he and Xabi met up during Euro 2012. “How are you?”

“Bueno,” Jon replied. “Papa said we could ride the carnival rides and play carnival games.”

Stevie grinned and glanced over at Xabi who now had Ane in his arms and was still avoiding his gaze as he pretended to fuss over her hair. “Of course we’re going to do that.”

Lexie ran to Xabi and held her arms up to him. Alex reached out to take Ane from Xabi. Xabi reluctantly let her go and scooped Lexie up. “Happy Birthday, sweetheart.”

“Thank you, Xabi,” Lexie said, wrapping her small arms around his neck. “I missed you.”

“Aww. Me too, darling.” Xabi kissed Lexie’s head and then placed her on her feet.

“Can we please ride rides?!” Jon asked Stevie.

“Why don’t you let me keep her while you boys go off and have some fun?” Alex offered when Xabi started to take his baby back.

Xabi shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “I don’t know if she would like that.”

“Oh, come on…” Alex smiled. She had always been oblivious of the things that went on between her husband and his Spanish teammate, so she had nothing against Xabi. He was nothing more than a good family friend as far as she was concerned. She placed Lourdes in her large buggy and held her hands out to Ane. “Want to come get some ice cream, sweetheart? Is that okay, Xabi? We were going to get small cones.”

Xabi nodded and handed Ane over to Alex. “That’s fine,” he muttered, trying to avoid direct eye contact. He had managed to decline most of Alex’ offers to join the family for dinner or lunch or anything else when he lived in Liverpool. He had only been in her presence at a few public functions when he couldn’t avoid it.

“Come on, Xabier. Jon, where do you want to go first?”

Xabi moved to Stevie’s side, but walked with some distance between them. Jon glanced all around at the different rides and games. There was way too much for his four-year-old mind to take in all at once. He just kept grinning and turning his head this way and that. He didn’t answer Stevie’s question until he saw the little kiddy cars – small cars modeled after luxury and sports cars that ran on a track. “I want to go on those!” Jon called out, kicking his legs on Stevie’s sides.

Stevie chuckled. “All right. You can go.”

While Jon was riding around a small track in a miniature Rolls Royce, Stevie talked to Xabi, trying to get him to open up and talk back. He kept his eyes on Jon, as did Xabi, as he spoke. “I’ve missed you. Seeing you once every six months, if that, isn’t enough. We don’t text as much as we used to either.”

Xabi shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve been busy. Nagore has been so busy with her career lately. I’m practically a single father these days. I don’t have a wife around all the time to drag to carnivals.”

Stevie sighed. “I’m sorry. I know I said she wasn’t coming and I really tried to get her to stay at home or go out with her friends, but she insisted. I knew you wouldn’t come if she was coming. Lexie really did want you here, you know? The girls might not see you much anymore, but they still love you. Lily especially misses you.”

Xabi bit his lip. He had always loved Stevie’s little girls, especially Lily. He had watched her grow when he lived in Liverpool. He and Stevie used to stay up nights when they had them alone and fantasize about what it would be like if Stevie left Alex and they got to bring up Lily together. It was foolish and both men knew it would never happen, but at four in the morning after making love several times, anything seemed possible.

“Haven’t you missed us too?” Stevie asked desperately.

“Of course, I have,” Xabi finally admitted. “I miss you every day. I think about you every day. I wish…” Xabi trailed off and hung his head.

“You wish you’d never left…”

“I had to leave,” Xabi insisted. “It was a good career move. It was good for my family. It was good for me. You were never going to leave Alex. I couldn’t leave Nagore after we had Jon. Things were getting too serious with us.  I didn’t want just what we had anymore. I wanted everything from you and you couldn’t give it to me. I had to leave.”

Stevie let silence fall over them for a few moments before he spoke. “But you wish you hadn’t, don’t you? Despite all that, despite knowing it was best at the time, you still wish you hadn’t, because you…” It was Stevie’s turn to trail off.

Xabi finally turned to face him. Stevie turned as well and their eyes met. “Because I love you,” Xabi whispered. “I always have.”

“I love you too,” Stevie whispered in reply. His hand twitched. He wanted to grab Xabi’s face and kiss him until their lips were numb. He ripped his eyes away from Xabi completely, turning to look the opposite direction.

Xabi apologized. He didn’t know for what he was apologizing, but he felt somehow responsible for the deep pain he’d seen shadow Stevie’s eyes before he looked away. Xabi started to rest his hand on Stevie’s shoulder when he heard the shrill squeal of his excited little son.

“Papa! Papa! Stevie!” He shouted, racing past the attendant toward Xabi and Stevie. “Did you see me, Papa? Stevie, did you see me? I drove the car!”

Xabi scooped Jon up into his arms and kissed his cheek. “I saw you, Hijo. You were very sharp in that fancy car! Do you want to go again?”

Jon shook his head. “I want an ice cream. Can we go to Lexie’s mom and get some ice cream?”

“Of course we can,” Stevie said, turning before Xabi had a moment to even formulate an answer.

 

“We’re still waiting,” Alex explained when the men found them in line for ice cream. There were still five people waiting in front of the m.

“Why don’t you go to a different ice cream shop?” Stevie asked. “There’s got to be one. Yeah, there’s one right down there!”

“We’ve been there. And to one a few little roads over. This is the only one on the whole fairgrounds that sells bubble gum ice cream. And your birthday girl just can’t have any other flavor.”

“How is Ane?” Xabi asked. “Has she been fussy?”

Alex shook her head. “She’s been perfect. She’s sitting in the buggy with Lourdes, playin’ with her toys.”

“Can I have an ice cream too?” Jon asked.

“Sure!” Alex replied, smiling wide at the adorable little boy.

“Alex, take Jon for a minute,” Stevie said. “Xabi, look…” Stevie pointed down the way over Xabi’s left shoulder. “Gypsy fortune teller. Let’s go get your palm read.”

“No, I…”

“Oh, come on. You made me do this that time we were in Spain. It’s payback. Come. Alex will mind Jon. It’s fine. We’ll be right back, Alex.”

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Xabi grumbled as Stevie shoved him into the large tent of the “gypsy” fortune teller.

“You can wait here,” the woman said as soon as they walked inside. She had the arm of a middle aged man.

Xabi was shocked. She actually looked foreign – not English. He wondered if perhaps she might actually be gypsy. She had a Scandinavian sounding accent. When she disappeared through a curtain, Stevie dragged Xabi to the corner of the large tent and pulled into down onto a large cushion on the floor.

“Why don’t we just come back later?” Xabi whispered.

“We can just wait until she’s finished with that guy,” Stevie replied. The tent was very dimly lit by small lanterns suspended from the wooden poles crossing the tent.

“What about the kids?”

Stevie turned to Xabi and placed his hand on the side of his neck. “They’re fine,” he whispered, leaning toward him.

Xabi knew he should say “no.” He knew he should back away, but he missed Stevie too much. He missed the way his blue eyes stared into his. He leaned closer and let his eyes fall closed.

Stevie pressed his lips to his and squeezed the back of his neck. Xabi felt overcome with emotion. He’d been missing and dreaming of Stevie. He held him tightly, hoping he wouldn’t pull away, or worse that his own alarm wouldn’t sound, rousing him from this beautiful dream.

The gypsy woman emerged from the inner room and cleared her throat. Stevie and Xabi pulled apart and glanced at her. “I’m ready for you now,” she said, waving them inside.

“You go first,” Xabi said to Stevie, nudging him toward the vacant chair at the small table where the gypsy had just taken a seat.

“No, no. You go on. This is for you.” Stevie handed the woman a few pounds and shoved Xabi toward the chair.

The woman took Xabi’s hand and started telling him the things she supposedly saw in his palm. Xabi expected it to be rubbish, but some of the things were spot on. “You haven’t felt complete in years.” “You’re missing something or someone from your past.” “You miss your old co-workers, despite loving and respecting your new ones.” Xabi hoped the last thing she said was accurate. “You’ll reconnect with an old love and live happily.”

When they started to leave, Xabi caught sight of the necklace hanging around the fortune teller’s neck. “What is that?” He asked, staring at the large gold and emerald pendant.

“It’s a pendant, taken from an earring my great grandmother wore.”

“It looks familiar,” Xabi said, taking a step toward her.

The woman pulled the necklace off and handed it to Xabi. Xabi turned the pendant over in his hands and stared at it. He had the strangest sense of déjà vu, as if he’d seen the pendant before, but there was no reason he should have.

“There’s a legend attached to that pendant,” the woman said as Xabi stared at it. “My great grandmother was no ordinary fortune teller. She was said to have magic, the ability to grant a wish to someone who had great need or want for a certain thing. It was said before she died, she transferred that magic into the earrings. The other was lost to my family. That one remains in the form of my necklace.”

Xabi never bought into this kind of thing. He thought it was all for a laugh, but for some reason, he found himself wishing as he held that pendant. He found himself wishing that he’d never left Liverpool, never left the squad or Stevie.

“How many wishes have you granted?” Stevie asked. He didn’t believe a word the gypsy had to say.

“None. I haven’t met someone with great enough want or need.” The woman never took her eyes off Xabi. “Maybe you’ll be my first,” she whispered as she gently took the pendant from him. When Xabi looked at her, she could see the intense yearning in his eyes. If anyone deserved a wish granted, it was him.

 

Xabi awoke the next morning in a haze. His eyes were burning like he’d been awakened hours too early. He groaned and rolled over to face his wife’s side of the bed. When he felt around and found it empty, he groaned again and squeezed his eyes tighter shut. If Nagore was already up, it wasn’t hours early. He had to get out of bed. He sighed and buried his face in the pillow. Five more minutes, he told himself.

He felt himself drifting back to sleep when he felt a hand on his bare back. His first thought, “It is early and Nagore is returning to bed.” Then his head cleared and he realized it wasn’t her hand. It wasn’t even a woman’s hand that was trailing over his back and down to his bum. Xabi gave a shout and scrambled across the bed. Aware that he was completely naked, he dragged the sheet with him and wrapped it around his lower half. “Who the hell are you?” He demanded, rubbing his eyes

Stevie chuckled and walked to Xabi’s side. “Your husband,” he said, kissing Xabi’s neck.

“What?!” Xabi jumped away. “Is this a joke?” He finally opened his eyes. Stevie was standing in front of him with a smile on his face.

“What’s the matter, Love? You look frightened. Did you have a bad dream?”

“This is a dream,” Xabi muttered. His head was spinning. He had to be dreaming.

“I know, baby. Every day with you is a dream.” Stevie kissed his lips.

“Stevie, stop it. This isn’t real. We are not married. That’s ridiculous.”

Stevie backed away from him. His jaw was on the floor. “Xabier, why would you say that?”

“Because it’s true! I’m married to Nagore. You’re married to Alex! We were just with her last night.”

Stevie’s brow rose. “Last night?! Last night we were with the kids and then we were in bed together. Alone. No women. I haven’t seen Alex in a year, not since she left to go to the States and find herself or whatever she did. And as far as I know you haven’t seen Nagore except when she comes to drop the kids off.”

“No. No. This isn’t right. We are not together. I don’t even live in this country anymore.”

Stevie shook his head and chuckled. “What are you talking about, Love? Did you move in the middle of the night?”

“I moved in 2009 and you know it. I live in Madrid with my wife. I play for Real Madrid. This is a dream.”

“You turned down Real Madrid in 2009. You divorced your wife a year later. We moved in together shortly after. After Alex had Lourdes and left her with me, we got married. We’re raising our children together now. Saying this is a dream is accurate, but acting like you’re going to be sick is rude, Xabier. I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but get it together. It’s almost time to get the children ready for school.” Stevie spun and headed for the door.

“Wait, Stevie…” Xabi grabbed his arm with his left hand and noticed, for the first time, the platinum wedding band on his finger. Married to Nagore, he wore his ring on his right hand, because they were married in Spain. “Stevie, I don’t understand.”

“Darlin’ what’s not to understand? What’s wrong with you? Have you really forgotten us?”

“No. I mean, yes. I… Stevie, the last thing I remember was coming back to town for Lexie’s carnival birthday gift and then we…” Xabi backed away and smacked Stevie’s arm. “You’re messing with me, aren’t you? This is about that fortune teller. You’re messing with me. You’re trying to make me think that wish came true! Where are my kids? How did I stay here with you last night?”

Stevie’s face was twisted up. He ran his hand through his hair. “Love, I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about. You stayed here, because you live here. You’re me husband. We’ve been married almost a year.”

Xabi shook his head. “No. That doesn’t make sense. No one would accept that. Did we quit football?”

“No! I’m captain, you’re me vice. Everyone accepts us. Well, everyone that matters anyway. You know this, Xabier. What’s happened to you, Me Love?”

“I think I got my wish,” Xabi muttered.

“What wish?” Stevie asked.

“Dad! Papa!” Jon burst into the room, shouting at the top of his voice.

“Jon!” Xabi exclaimed. He tied the sheet around him and ran to his son. “Jon, my boy, are you okay? Where were you?”

Jon’s little face scrunched up to his match his second father’s. “I was in my room, Papa. I just woke up. I’m hungry. Can you come make breakfast before school?”

“Before…you…you live here with me?”

Jon planted his hands on his hips and stared at Xabi as if he’d lost his mind. “Papa, are you joking around?” Jon turned his eyes up to Stevie. “Daddy, is he joking?”

“Papa’s tired, Jon. Run downstairs and have Sophia make you breakfast.”

“Aww, but Papa’s breakfast is better!” Jon whined.

“I know, but Papa doesn’t feel well. Run along.”

“Who is Sophia?” Xabi asked as he watched Jon run out of the bedroom.

“Sophia is our housekeeper and cook.”

“What about the babies? Where are they?”

“Asleep. You know they never get up this early, but if they do Katie will get them.”

“Who is…?”

“Katie is our nanny. Xabier, I’m worried that you’re ill. I want to take you to the doctor.”

Xabi stared at the floor for a moment and then muttered, “Stevie, do you remember going to the carnival?”

“Remember? How could I remember? We’re going tonight.”

“We are?” Xabi’s head shot up.

“Yes, Love, but first we’re getting you to the doctor.”

Xabi shook his head. “No. I’m fine. I’ll be fine. I just need to get to the carnival again.”

“Again? When did you go? We agreed to wait and go together!”

“No, I didn’t mean…Can I take a shower, please?”

Stevie’s brows knitted together again. “Since when do you ask my permission to shower? Of course, you can shower. It’s your shower as well as mine. Wait until I get the kids sorted out and I’ll take one with ya.”

“Wait…shouldn’t I sort the kids with you?” Xabi asked. “Don’t I do that?”

Stevie frowned. “Xabier, you’re really scaring me. Did you hit your head or something?”

“No. I’m fine. I just…I’m telling you, Stevie. I just woke up here for the first time. I wished this to happen and it did. My life was like I told you it was. Yesterday, it was like that.” Xabi grabbed Stevie’s face. “I wasn’t with you and I missed you so much that I wished this and it came true.”

Stevie wanted to believe Xabi simply, because he was his husband and he loved him, but the things he said made absolutely no sense to him. He couldn’t help disbelieving it. “Xabi, I…”

“Just trust me, Steven, please. I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Xabier, but…”

Xabi pressed his lips to Stevie’s before he could say another word. He didn’t know how to explain anymore. If it was real, he’d work on explaining better or adapting or whatever he had to do, but if it was a dream, he just wanted to enjoy it.

Stevie was still worried there was something wrong with Xabi’s head, but his mouth felt so perfect that he disregarded the nagging feeling and melted into his kiss. He pulled away moments later to say, “The kids need about twenty minutes to eat breakfast before they get ready. We’ve time for a shower.”

For Stevie, making love in the shower felt like something they did almost daily. They’d done it just the night before, in fact. For Xabi, however, it felt like the first time in years. He clung to Stevie like he never wanted it to end and never wanted to let him go. When it ended, Stevie left the shower first without a word. Xabi followed him to get dressed. Xabi was surprised to find he had half of an entire closet filled with clothing that belonged to him.

Stevie dressed in silence and snuck glances at Xabi as often as he could. He was different. He noticed it when they were making love first, but Xabi even looked different getting dressed.

“What is it, Stevie? What’s wrong?” Xabi asked as he pulled his socks on.

“You’re different. You were different in the shower and you even look different getting dressed. You usually take your time, but you dressed in a rush. Why?”

“Nagore hates it when I take forever getting…” Xabi trailed off and stared down at the floor.

“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Stevie muttered.

“I tried to explain. I don’t understand it either. I don’t believe in this kind of stuff, but I swear to you I’m not lying to you, Stevie. I’ll prove it to you when we go to the carnival tonight. I’ll show you the fortune teller and her medallion. I’ll have her tell you the story about the wish. I’ll prove to you that I wished this.”

Silence invaded the closet for several moments. When Stevie finally spoke, it was quietly, barely above a whisper. “Will you wish for your other life back?” He asked.

“No, I wanted you back, Stevie. I just didn’t know how to make it happen when I was in Spain and you were here. I’m happy here, aren’t I? I’m playing well? We’re happy together? Our family is good?”

“We’re great, Xabi. You’re playing really well. We won the League last season, would have won the FA Cup too, but Chelsea took that from us. Our family is great. The girls are dealing with Alex leaving, but they’re okay. Everything is perfect. Please, don’t leave me.”

Xabi grabbed Stevie’s face again and kissed his lips. “I won’t, Stevie. I won’t leave you. I love you.”

 

“I love you too, Lexie. Have a good day at school.” Xabi kissed Stevie’s – his – daughter on the forehead and nudged her toward the car where Stevie was waiting to take her and the other kids to school.

Lily stepped up to Xabi next and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I hope you feel better, Papa,” she said, kissing his cheek. “Will you still come to the carnival with us tonight?”

Xabi nodded and kissed Lily’s nose. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss the carnival for the world.”

 

“Are we ready to go?!” Xabi shouted up the stairs. He was more than ready. He wanted to get to the park and be sure there was even a fortune teller to see. She had to be there, but he feared perhaps she wouldn’t be. Maybe he was losing his mind. If he saw that she was actually there, he’d feel better about spending some time with his family before he actually took Stevie to speak to her.

Stevie came bounding down the stairs. “You’ve got John, Lily, Ane, and Lourdes, yeah?”

“Yes. Well, Katie has them, but yes. Where’s Lexie?”

Stevie smiled. “She is refusing to come down until you go up and fix her hair. Will you?”

Xabi smiled happily. He had always loved fixing Ane’s hair. He didn’t imagine Lexie’s would be any different. “Of course. I’ll run up and do it for her now.”

Stevie kissed Xabi’s lips and muttered, “Me hero.”

When Xabi reached her bedroom, Lexie was sitting in the middle of her bed with her hair brush and a basket of hair accessories in her lap. “Papa!” She chorused when Xabi walked into the room.

“Hello, baby,” he said, smiling at her. “What do you want me to do to your hair?” Xabi climbed onto the bed behind her and ran his fingers through her soft blond hair.

“Can you braid it like a fishtail?” Lexie asked.

Xabi’s brow furrowed. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how to do that.”

Lexie giggled and shook her head. “Papa. You just did it yesterday for school. It was perfect. All of my friends said so.”

Xabi frowned. He knew how to braid hair, but not how to make it look like a fishtail – whatever that even meant. “Right. Okay. Let me just run downstairs, Lex. I’ll be right back.” Xabi raced downstairs and pulled Stevie away from the other children. “What does making a braid look like a fishtail mean?” He hissed.

Stevie laughed. “It’s some hair thing. Lily’s mate did it to her at a sleepover and Lexie wanted it. You found a How-To video on YouTube, did it for her yesterday. You don’t remember?”

Xabi shook his head. “I don’t, but I can find another video. That’s what she wants to be done.” Xabi watched the shortest how-to video he found and ran back up to Lexie. “Let’s do this,” he said, climbing onto the bed behind her again.

Lexie smiled happily. “Okay, Papa. Please make it pretty like yesterday.”

“I’ll try.” Xabi worked for twenty minutes and made what looked like the exact same thing he’d seen on the YouTube video. He carried Lexie into her bathroom and helped her look at the braid in the mirror. “How is it?”

“It’s perfect, Papa!” Lexie squealed, jumping off her sink into Xabi’s arms. “Gracias, Papa!”

“De nada, Hija. Let’s go to the carnival now!”

 

“Let’s just see if the tent is here, Steven,” Xabi insisted when they stepped onto the fairgrounds. Katie was with them, pushing a stroller carrying Ane and Lourdes. Lexie was holding tight to Xabi’s right hand while Jon stood between Xabi and Stevie holding both their hands. Lily held Stevie’s left hand.

“Xabi, can’t we just have fun with the kids first?” Stevie whispered. “I don’t want this thing interrupting our fun.”

“It’s going to interrupt it if I don’t at least see it. I’ll be wondering about it all night. Please, Stevie. It’s down this walkway, I remember. It’s past all these food booths…just a few yards from an ice cream booth.”

“Can we get ice cream?!” Jon squealed.

“Later,” Stevie replied. “All right, Xab, but as soon as you see it, we’re going to play with the kids. We’re not going inside. We’ll do that later.”

“See what, Daddy?” Jon craned his neck up to look at his two fathers.

“Nothing, sweetie, just a silly tent your Papa wants to see.”

Xabi gasped when they passed up the ice cream booth and there was no fortune teller’s tent. “No. Where is it? It has to be here. It was right here yesterday and we…” Xabi muttered a string of Spanish obscenities.

“Xabi!” Stevie scolded. “I don’t care if they don’t understand it. No swearing in front of the kids.”

Xabi dropped the kids’ hands and walked to the empty spot where the tent stood between an ice cream booth and one selling icy drinks. “It was here, Stevie. It was right here.”

Stevie corralled the kids close to Katie and walked to his husband. He really had no clue what was happening with him, but it frightened him. He wrapped his arms tight around Xabi’s waist, hugging him from behind. “Xabier,” he whispered, kissing the back of his ear. “We weren’t here yesterday, Me Love. I don’t know…”

Xabi pulled away and spun to face Stevie. “I was here, Steven. I was here and _it_ was here and _she_ was here with her stupid necklace that grants stupid wishes and…”

“Stupid,” Stevie repeated. “You think getting to share a life with me and our children is stupid?” Stevie spun to face Katie. She was an older woman who had grandchildren of her own. She could handle the kids alone for a few minutes. “Katie, take the kids down and look at some of the games or something,” he said. He handed her a wad of money. “Let them play whatever they want,” he instructed.

When the kids were gone, Xabi finally spoke again. He started with an apology, because he knew what he’d said did not come out the way he intended. “I didn’t mean that, Stevie. I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t trade this for anything. I wouldn’t even want my old life back. I just want you to know that I’m not crazy, that I don’t have some sort of freak head injury. I want you to know that she was here and we were here and I wished this.”

Stevie frowned sympathetically. “Baby, I want to believe you. I do, but _I_ was not here. I do not remember being here. I’m sorry.”

Xabi frowned and hung his head. A moment later, it popped up. “Maybe the tent has been moved or maybe in this world where we’re married it never was here, it’s just somewhere else. Xabi glanced around until he saw a carnie standing behind the ice cream stand. He walked to him quickly. “Excuse me, Sir. I was wondering if you might have a fortune teller with this carnival.”

The carnie’s brow furrowed. “You mean the gypsy woman?”

“Yes, yes, the gypsy woman!”

“Yeah, yeah, she’s always ‘ere. Over on the other side of the grounds though, right next to haunted house.”

“Did you hear that?” Xabi asked Stevie.

Stevie smiled at his husband’s excitement. He might not understand this rubbish, but he loved seeing Xabi happy. “I heard, Love. Let’s go then. Thanks, Mate.” Stevie waved at the carnie who grunted in reply and went back to his job. Stevie looped his arm with Xabi’s and walked on with him. “So, Love, now that you know it’s here, can we just enjoy the night before we go off asking this gypsy about wishes?”

“Of course, we can. I’m sorry I’m being so difficult, Stevie. You know I love you.”

“I know, because you said it on our wedding day,” Stevie said, kissing Xabi’s head.

A tear slid down Xabi’s cheek before he even realized it was happening. He wiped it away quickly, but Stevie caught the motion.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Nothing. Just…because this is my wish and I came from my other life, I can’t remember anything with you. I remember the wedding vows I said to Nagore, not the ones I said to you. I remember kissing her in front of a church filled with people, not you. I want to remember that, Stevie.”

Stevie grabbed Xabi and hugged him tightly. “I’m sorry, Love. I don’t understand this, I told you. But we’ll make it work, I promise. I have videos of our wedding. We’ll watch them together.”

Xabi nodded and pulled away, wiping his eyes. “That sounds great. But, Stevie…you don’t have video of our wedding _night_ , do you?” Xabi arched his brow and widened his eyes almost comically.

Stevie chuckled. “No, Me Love. I did not record that. I’ll have to remind you what happened that night by repeatin’ it tonight,” he whispered, nipping at Xabi’s earlobe.

 

When they found the kids throwing darts at balloons, both men had a renewed confidence about their situation, not an understanding, really, but a confidence that they’d get through it together, no matter what. Xabi scooped Jon up and put him on his shoulders. “You want to go and ride the little cars, Hijo?”

“What little cars?” Jon asked excitedly. “There are little cars?”

“I think so! Let’s go find them. I bet there’s a pretty fancy car for the girls too. Come on. Let’s go.”

As they walked toward the spot where Xabi thought the cars should be, Lexie chattered away to him. “Papa, I really wanted that pink bunny back there with the balloons, but I couldn’t pop even one and you have to pop three.”

“I tried too, Papa,” Jon said. “I only popped one balloon. “They gave me a tiny bear, but it was pink, so I gave it to Ane.”

Xabi smiled. “That was very nice of you, Jon. Lex, we’ll try for your pink bunny later, sweetheart.”

Stevie stood at Xabi’s side, holding his hand as they watched their children ride around in the little cars. Lexie and Lily were in a two-seat pink Porsche while Jon chose the same Rolls Royce he had the night before. Xabi snapped a few pictures of Lexie and Lily with his phone and suddenly remembered that he’d done the same last night. He’d taken a photo of Jon in the little Rolls Royce. He looked through the pictures on his phone, but of course it wasn’t there. He stopped on one of him sitting with Stevie on the edge of their pool.

“Lily takes a good picture, doesn’t she?” Stevie asked. He had been watching Xabi go through the photos.

Xabi glanced up at him. “Lily took this?”

“Last weekend. We were all by the pool. She said we looked ‘like romance.’” Stevie laughed.

Xabi smiled and shoved his phone into his pocket. “It looked very romantic,” he said, stealing a kiss on Stevie’s lips. He loved the feeling of freedom, of being able to kiss Stevie in public, being able to hold his hand. He hoped so much that this wasn’t a dream. If it was a dream, he never wanted to wake up from it.

 

By nine-thirty, three hours after they’d arrived at the carnival, neither man thought there was a single ride or booth they hadn’t at least taken a peek at. The bigger kids had ridden everything possible. The two little girls were showered with stuffed toys, and Lexie got her big pink bunny, thanks to Stevie’s dart skills.

“I think we’d better be getting home,” Katie advised the dads. “The baby girls are sleeping and Miss Lexie looks to be about sleepwalking there.”

Xabi scooped Lexie up in his arms and kissed her little nose. “Are you sleepy, darling?” He asked.

“Si, Papa,” she replied with a yawn.

“You want to go home and curl up in your bed and have a sleep?” He asked, kissing her forehead.

Lexie giggled when Xabi’s facial hair tickled her forehead. “Si,” she muttered.

Stevie had a sleeping Jon in his arms and a sleepy Lily on his hand. “Maybe we should take them on home now. We can come back to check out your thing.”

Xabi nodded and they set off to the parking area. They took the children home and tucked them all in. Katie stayed with them while the dads set off back to the carnival to see the gypsy woman.

“Are you sure about this, Love?” Stevie asked. He and Xabi stood, hand-in-hand, just inside the tent of the fortune teller where they had sat waiting the night before.

“I’m sure. I just want to show you. I just want you to see.”

“You swear you won’t wish me away?” Stevie asked.

Xabi grabbed his face. “I would never. I wished _for_ you. I don’t want to change that.” Xabi pulled his face to his and kissed his lips.

The gypsy walked through the curtain a moment later and cleared her throat.

Xabi pulled back, still holding Stevie’s face, and muttered, “Every time.” He remembered the gypsy interrupting their perfect kiss the previous night.

“What?” Stevie asked.

Xabi shook his head and pulled Stevie toward the gypsy woman. “Oh, you,” she said, grinning.

“Me?” Xabi said, stopping. “You remember me?”

“Of course. Your wish came true, I take?”

“Yes, yes, it did. See, Stevie, I told you. I wished it and it came true. See her necklace.” Xabi pointed at the pendant, still hanging round the gypsy’s neck.

“He won’t know about it,” the gypsy said, smiling. “Only you and me. And only for 24 hours.”

“What?” Xabi exclaimed. “Only 24 hours? What do you mean? I’ll only know it was a wish that long or it will only last that long?”

“The magic only works 24 hours. You will go back to your old life after that time. Did I forget to mention that last night?”

Xabi’s face fell and a tear ran down his cheek. “No. That can’t happen. I need to stay here in this life with him.”

“Well, there is one condition.”

“Condition? What? Do I have to do something? I’ll do anything.”

Stevie grabbed Xabi from the side and pressed his lips to his face where his cheek met his ear. “I love you, no matter what,” he whispered.

“You don’t have to do anything,” the gypsy replied. “If this new life is what was meant to be, it will be. It will stay after the twenty-four hours. You’ll remember that it was a wish for another 24 hours, but then it will seem like that’s the life you’ve always lived. You’ll have all the memories he has of your life together or you’ll go back to remembering your life without him. When you awaken in the morning, you’ll be here or there, but you’ll be where you belong.”

 

Xabi and Stevie made love as many times as they could that night. They savored each other just in case they awoke in the morning in different worlds. Neither one wanted to think of life without each other again, but they knew it was a possibility.

When they were finally too exhausted to even move off each other, let alone make love again, they curled together. “I love you so much, Xabier,” Stevie whispered, kissing his lover’s forehead.

“I love you too, Steven,” Xabi sniffed. He held tight to Stevie, hoping that if he held him tight enough, he’d be there when he woke up.

 

Xabi awoke from a horrible dream just hours after falling asleep. Sunlight was pouring through the windows. He smelled the scent of flowers. Nagore’s perfume, he thought. His heart felt as if it was breaking into a million pieces. No. He was made for Stevie, surely he was. He didn’t open his eyes. He didn’t want to see Nagore next to him. He just buried his face in his pillow and cried. He wanted to be back with Stevie, back in that world. “Oh, Stevie,” he cried as tears fell into his pillow.

“I’m right here, Love. Shh.” Stevie climbed into bed and held him. “I was in the loo. What’s wrong?”

Xabi shot up and grabbed Stevie so tightly he thought he’d hurt him. “I thought you were gone. I thought I’d lost you. It’s morning and you’re here. It’s morning and…”

“And you’re where you’re meant to be,” Stevie practically shouted.

Xabi grabbed his face and kissed him hard. “We’re where we meant to be,” he said a moment later when he pulled back.

“I love you so much, Xabier. I’m so glad you made that wish.”


End file.
